In the days before archdiocesan imprimaturs were rubber stamps for local Catholic publishers, they were affixed to books like Fr. Leonard Goffine’s Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels, which bears the seal of one + J.B. Purcell, Archbishop, Cincinnati, Ohio + March 26, 1874. Here are a few ‘grafs from the section on Advent:

What is Advent, and why has the Church instituted it?

Advent is that solemn time, immediately preceding Christmas, instituted by the Church in order that we should, in the first place, meditate on the Incarnation of Christ, the love, patience and humility which He has shown us, and prove our gratitude to Him, because He came from the bosom of His heavenly Father into this valley of tears, to redeem us; secondly, that we may prepare ourselves by sincere repentance, fasting, prayer, alms-deeds, and other works pleasing to God, for the coming of Christ and His birth in our hearts, and thus participate in the graces which He has obtained for us; finally, that He may be merciful to us, when He shall come again as judge of the world. “Watch ye, for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come” (Mt. 5:42). “Wherefore be you also ready; because at what hour you know not, the Son of man will come” (Mt. 24:44).

How should this solemn time be spent by Christians?

They should recall, during these four weeks, the four thousand years in which the just under the Old Law expected and desired the promised Redeemer, think of those days of darkness in which nearly all nations were blinded by saran and drawn into the most horrible crimes, then consider their own sins and evil deeds and purify their souls from them by a worthy reception of the Sacraments, so that our Lord may come with His grace to dwell in their hearts and be merciful to them in life and in death. Further, to awaken in the faithful the feelings of repentance so necessary for the reception of the Savior in their hearts, the Church orders that besides the observance of certain fast days, the altar shall be draped in violet, that Mass shall be celebrated in violet vestments, that the organ shall be silent and no Gloria sung. Unjust to themselves, disobedient to the Church and ungrateful, indeed, to God are those Christians who spend this solemn time of grace in sinful amusements without performing any good works, with no longing for Christ’s Advent into their hearts.

PRAYER IN ADVENT O God, who by Thy gracious Advent hast brought joy into this world, grant us, we beseech Thee, Thy grace to prepare ourselves by sincere penance for its celebration and for the Last Judgment. Amen.

One edition of the book came with a ‘blurb of recommendation from Archbishop Elder:

I beg to say that in union with so many bishops in America, we approve the English translation of the “Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels” by the Rev. Leonard Goffine. We recommend it to the Faithful as a book eminently useful for instruction and the fostering of piety and devotion. There are few books that can be read with more profit in Catholic families on Sundays and Holy days.

Despite the misleading headline — “Debut of new translation causes Mass confusion” — the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s account of the translation’s debut this past weekend shows local Catholics taking it in stride. The only real crank is a lady from Wisconsin who appears at the end. Like Fr. Kolde of St. John Neumann, our celebrant yesterday carefully articulated the prayers and lingered on words that have changed. He also repeated the parts of the people to help us along. The congregation would have benefited from more of those red booklets produced by the archdiocese; we brought along slick pew cards from Magnificat, and on at least one occasion I caught a neighbor peering over my shoulder. Yes, we all stumbled a time or two with the new prayers, but from what I could see most people shrugged and smiled, knowing it’ll get easier with practice.

PLEASANT RUN – The 11 o’clock Mass at St. John Neumann Catholic Church went a little slower Sunday morning than in weeks – and years – past.

English-speaking Roman Catholics at the suburban Cincinnati church and elsewhere who have regularly attended Mass for years found themselves in an unfamiliar position, needing printed cards or sheets of paper to follow along with a ritual many have known since childhood. The changes are happening worldwide and are driven by a new English translation of the original Latin Mass.

Though parishes have prepared since September for the new translations, reaction to the official changes on Sunday, the first week of Advent, showed that Catholics will need some more time to adjust.

The Rev. Steve Kolde, pastor of John Neumann, articulated each word carefully and gave congregants extra time to find the correct pages in hymnals and missals before the response. …

Also, this morning’s print edition has a letter praising the “New Catholic Mass.”

Glad Rich got this thing going! I am a Cincinnatian in exile, of course now the exile part has gone on for more years than I lived in the city….Still, both my wife and I have plenty of family in Cincinnati, so we get back there occasionally.

My job on this blog is to pass along unsubstantiated rumors we hear from our family, no, just kidding. I would like to comment on positive developments in particular. Some of those might be from our current location in the Diocese of Memphis, Tenn. It actually is not sunny here right now. When it rains, it really rains here.

According to information at Fr. Z’s blog a few years ago, this Diocese was not too Summorum Pontificum friendly, or at least our Bishop (+J. Terry Steib, SVD) wasn’t too thrilled by the motu proprio. And yet, we have been to Latin Masses in three different parishes, said by four different priests. My wife thinks it’s 5 priests, but I have lost count. There is also an active Catholic homeschooling group we participate in, so Memphis is a good place for tradition minded Catholics.

I hope the TLM is doing well in Cincinnati too. A big shout out to any and all alumni of the late great Ss. Peter and Paul in Norwood!

Welcome to our new group blog, Over the Rhine and Into the Tiber (https://otritt.wordpress.com/). As the words in the masthead suggest, this site will focus on “the pursuit of Catholic continuity in, under, and around the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.”

Our authors are members of the laity who live within the archdiocese or have ties here, and several will write under pen names. OTRITT will serve as a clearinghouse of local and regional news — good and bad — and a forum for the exchange of views from a Catholic perspective.

Here is what I posted in the site’s “About” tab:

“Over-the-Rhine” is an historic neighborhood in downtown Cincinnati that was home to the city’s many German Catholic immigrants in the 19th century. It is also home to Old St. Mary Church, a center of Catholic orthodoxy and traditional liturgical practice in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati; the church’s steeple appears in the foreground of the photograph on the site’s masthead. The Tiber River is the main watercourse in Rome, which was settled on its East bank. Converts are said to “swim the Tiber” to cross into Catholic territory.

In his 2005 Christmas address to the Roman curia, Pope Benedict XVI proposed a “hermeneutic of continuity” to interpret the documents of Vatican II as an alternative to the all-too-common “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture.” The former hermeneutic, or way of interpreting information, sees the council and its documents in continuity with 2,000 years of Catholic history, while the latter sees them as revolutionary breaks with the past. This site and its authors will examine various aspects of Catholic life within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the surrounding region through the lens of continuity.

Comments are welcome, but to help encourage civility commenters must use their own names or a consistent online identity.

We have started adding content to the site, and more is on the way.

Thank you for your interest in this new project, and may you and yours have a blessed Advent.

Saturday night Masses are over and no fires or explosions in any parish near here, will be prepared with smelling salts and duct tape for the AM Masses. :>)

Really the Priests have the hard part, enough with the preparations already, lets get on with it

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Update

Just returned from 10:30 mass, all is calm, Actually everyone did fairly well, a lot of ” and alsoooooooo…with your spirit” , but that will improve. Actually Father did quite well, he usually likes to add emphasis to words all the time, this really slowed that down. A few minor mistakes but good heavens the old prayers are rote to him and all priests, it will take time. The new mass music IMHO tries to be too show tunish, would appreciate some chant, maybe in time. All in all a good experience, we will survive and thrive

Adding to Righting’s post about translation resources, take a look at the great “Why the change?” videos LifeTeen released for middle and high school students. Here’s the eight-minute video for the high school set:

Yes, yes, I realize Life Teen sometimes has an … animated approach to the liturgy. But these videos are good. (My four oldest watched them tonight and gave them high marks.) They’re a teaser for a promising DVD course, Word for Word.